


Protocol

by pennysparrow



Series: A crooked politician? Yeah but that ain't news no more [5]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossover, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-14 04:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17501465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: The nice part about the Triumvirate House was that it made the perfect place to house out of town visitors. Especially when that out of town visitor was there for a week for a conference and the good friend of a good friend. The only problem seemed to be that he and Courfeyrac gave each other… Ideas.





	Protocol

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WritingToKeepMySanity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingToKeepMySanity/gifts).



> Disney and I have been talking about the horrors that would ensue should Courf ever get a hamster army and Race find out and decide he needs one too. This is the result of A Lot of those such conversations.

The nice part about the Triumvirate House was that it made the perfect place to house out of town visitors. Especially when that out of town visitor was there for a week for a conference and the good friend of a good friend. The only problem seemed to be that he and Courfeyrac gave each other… Ideas.

Cosette wasn’t quite sure what was going on when Combeferre texted her asking if she needed any help with her ferrets. Tim and Heidi – yes, they were named after Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum; she had a deep love and respect for them both and had gotten the ferrets during the middle of an intense _Project Runway_ phase – weren’t scheduled to have their enclosure cleaned and bedding changed for another week. She did have a Spider-Gwen cosplay she wanted to finish though and having that weekend free would be helpful.

With a shrug Cosette texted back that she didn’t _need_ any help but wouldn’t mind it if he were offering. Tim and Heidi liked Ferre, he was more than happy to play with them whenever he came over for tea or to drop off a book for Marius to borrow.

He didn’t immediately reply so she went back to doing her dishes and listening to a podfic that Jehan had told her to check out. When Combeferre did text back it was cryptic. _“Not me. It’s easier to explain in person. Come to the Musain tonight?”_ Cosette was going to be there anyway so she tapped out a simple “ok” and trusted that Combeferre knew what he was doing. Whatever it was.

Her fur-lined snowboots made hollow sounding thuds as she padded up the stairs to the Musain’s loft that the ABC had claimed as their own. She was early, only a few of her friends lounging around the table as opposed to the normal horde, smiling over at them.

Combeferre met her smile with one of his own and gestured that Cosette should come join him. As she crossed the space over to the couch he was sitting on she realized the blonde who was bracketing Courfeyrac’s other side wasn’t Enjolras. For one his hair was a dirty blonde darker than Enj’s more honey and it was a rat’s nest of short curls while Enjolras had successfully been growing his back out. The smile that Cosette had been giving Combeferre widened as she recognized the boy, suddenly remembering that he was in D.C. for a conference of some type.

“Racetrack!” Cosette called and held her arms out. He leapt to his feet and returned her hug. “I had forgotten that you would be in town today!”

“I’m sure you’ve got more important things to worry about,” Racetrack tried to wave off.

Cosette frowned and pulled him in for another quick hug. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said firmly, and Racetrack gave her a small but genuine smile. The two had gotten into all sorts of trouble over New Year’s while she and the rest of the ABC were in New York. And by trouble she means they went to just about every ice cream shop in the city together with Marius, Courfeyrac, and Racetrack’s friend Albert. It was well worth the money and trekking around the city for all the fun they had.

Racetrack reclaimed his seat next to Courf who frowned at Cosette as she perched on the arm of the sofa. “Don’t I get a hug?” Courfeyrac teased.

“No,” Cosette answered primly. “You haven’t earned one yet today.”

“Oh and Race did?” Courfeyrac was grinning with unabashed amusement.

“Yes.” Cosette was having trouble keeping a straight face and knew Courf would be able to see the laughter in her eyes.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Combeferre interrupted before the two could get any farther, pulling everyone’s attention to him. “I was hoping we could chat quickly about that interior decorating book you lent me?”

Courf and Racetrack both gave him odd looks before exchanging their own. Cosette felt her eyebrows rise quickly in surprise before quickly schooling her face back into an expression of pleasant interest.

‘Interior decorating’ was a phrase they used that meant ‘Courfeyrac is up to nonsense again’ and came about during their freshman year when Marius was Courf’s roommate. It had come about do to some incident that really did involve interior decorating of their cramped space resulting in Marius running to find Combeferre and Enjolras down the hall to come help fix it. The term just became so synonymous with that incident for the three of them that they began using it as code when around Courfeyrac himself. Soon it was picked up by the entire friend group. Sure, he raised eyebrows at mentions of it but their interests were all so varied that nothing was truly impossible anymore which made it perfect. It also worked as a nice shaming technique as to accuse someone of dabbling in interior decorating meant that they were encouraging a particularly outrageous whim of Courf’s.

“Why don’t we go get everyone drinks?” Cosette suggested. She was already rising to her feet and looking at Racetrack expectantly.

He blinked back at her before realizing she was waiting for his order. “Uh, a mocha? No, wait, hot chocolate.”

She smiled and nodded, turning to head back towards the stairs. She and Ferre both had Courfeyrac’s ridiculous more-foam-than-coffee memorized.

“So what’s up?” she asked once they were out of earshot.

Combeferre let out a long-suffering sigh. “Courfeyrac wants a hamster.” Cosette raised an eyebrow, not seeing what constituted the use of ‘interior decorating’ and how this related back to her ferrets. “Courf wants a hamster and told Racetrack who now _also_ wants a hamster and Enj is on that weekend trip for his parents and if he comes home to two hamsters lost somewhere in the house it’s going to be on my head.”

“Who says they’re going to be lost?” Cosette moved forward with the line. When she turned back to Ferre he was giving her a dry look. “Fair,” she acquiesced. “Why you though and not R?”

Ferre snorted. “The only reason Grantaire isn’t involved yet is because he’s been painting all day. Got some big commission. Otherwise we’d already _have_ hamsters.”

“Good for him,” Cosette said, genuinely happy for her friend. “Also, I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit. R is much too self deprecating to believe he can care for a pet. Which we really need to work on, by the way.”

There was a hum of agreement from Ferre before the barista looked at them expectantly. They rattled off the orders and stepped to the side to wait. “He would still encourage it though,” Combeferre pointed out and Cosette wrinkled her nose, unsure of what exactly Grantaire might have done should he be involved in this situation.

“Well I’m still unsure what all this has to do with Tim and Heidi.”

“Well,” Combeferre started. He took his glasses off and started cleaning them on the hem of his sweater as he shot her a slightly pleading look. It wasn’t quite effective as even when he was ducking his head Combeferre was significantly taller than Cosette. It did make him look a bit guilty however. “I thought that maybe if they saw how much work went into taking care of hamsters, they might change their minds.”

“I have ferrets,” Cosette pointed out.

“Yes, but the upkeep is similar enough to get the point across.”

“So, you want them to care for my babies for a day to teach them a lesson?”

“And get the whole rodent thing out of their systems. There was talks of making little pens around the house so that they would be ‘free range’ hamsters.” Combeferre said it with such a deadpan that she couldn’t help but giggle.

“You’re going to have two hamsters lost in the house.”

“I’m going to have two hamsters lost in the house,” Ferre repeated sullenly.

Cosette reached her arm up to set a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’ve got nothing to do tomorrow morning, they can come over and I’ll supervise.”

Ferre grinned down at her. “You really _are_ an angel, Cosette.”

They grabbed the drinks as Cosette rolled her eyes. “No, I just think that this gives me the perfect opportunity to catch up on _Will & Grace_ before they come back from hiatus.”

Combeferre laughed and they headed back up to tell Courfeyrac and Racetrack that they were honorary ferret uncles. With all the, uh, duties that came with it.


End file.
